


Heated Rivalry (Night Sky)

by sunnywithclouds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Astronomy Tower, Gryffindor, Harry/Draco - Freeform, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Astronomy Tower, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Homework, I love it when rivals kiss, Kinda smutty in the 2nd chapter and beyond, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Slytherin, Smooching, Sort of a Plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-11-26 22:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20937839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnywithclouds/pseuds/sunnywithclouds
Summary: *This work will probably not receive an update.If there is one thing that can be said about Harry and Draco, it's that their rivalry is nothing short of explosive. And sometimes rivalry like that can turn into something more. They don't have to like each other to be drawn to each other...Again something that was supposed to be a one shot and it's becoming more.  ;)Chapter Summary - Draco has Astronomy homework but even though it's the middle of the night, the observation tower is not empty.  Harry is there...  Oh great...  But work has to be completed so what choice does he have?---------Along with Inktober, it is Fictober! Following a prompt list from Tumblr I'm going to write short fics based around those prompts. A friend doing the same is titling each fic with the prompt so I'm totally copying that. ;)--------





	1. Night Sky

"Ugh."

Draco spoke the one word as he stood in the doorway of the tallest observation tower. It was the middle of the night, he had his homework under his arm. And Harry Potter in front of him, the only other person there.

Harry looked over his shoulder at Draco, regarded him silently for a few moments and then went back to what he was doing.

That was annoying. That was REALLY annoying, actually. That was more annoying than him being there in the first place. Refusing to even acknowledge Draco's presence with more than a glance, not saying a word? How dare he.

Draco huffed, muttering under his breath as he went to the far side of the observation tower, flicking one of the telescopes as he tried to get himself settled and focused on the work at hand rather than the Boy Who Lived.

Luckily the work was engrossing and he quickly lost himself in it, forgetting that he wasn't alone as Harry was working silently across the floor from him. He made it halfway through the assignment before he started to run into problems. He moved the telescope around in the quadrant of sky he was supposed to be observing, unable to locate what he was looking for not matter how carefully he looked or slowly he moved across the small space of sky.

"Would you shut UP!" 

Draco nearly jumped out of his skin, the harsh words coming from across the room and he turned to just stare at Harry, having forgotten he was there. "I wasn't talking to you, Potter!'

"I know. You were talking to yourself and it was driving me insane. I can't work with you muttering and swearing."

"I wasn't making a sound." Draco said, his chin raising slightly though the tips of his ears went pink. He knew that when he was lost in work or having trouble with something he did talk to himself. But he didn't want to admit that to Harry. To have to make noises like he was apologetic. Not to HIM.

Harry regarded him silently for a few moments again, then sighed out a long suffering breath before looking back to his telescope. "Whatever."

Oooo.... Draco's eyes narrowed and he turned himself around quickly, his back to Harry once more as he resumed working, or at least trying to work, absolutely fuming over the dismissive way the other boy was treating him. 

But once again he couldn't find what he was looking for. And he wasn't so engrossed in the work that he could figure it out any more plainly than before, working himself into an absolute lather before he hurled his book on the floor and swore rather profusely.

Harry had turned to watch him and Draco met his eyes, absolutely seething. "WHAT!?"

"What in Merlin's name are you so fucking angry about?" Harry asked, looking incredulously at Draco, more amused than annoyed at this point. He'd never seen the other boy so incensed and so worked up. He usually tried so hard to be cool and calm no matter what the situation.

"Nothing is where the book says it's supposed to be!' Draco yelled, pointing first at the book and then out the window. 

Harry couldn't help but smirk, raising his hand to press the back of it against his mouth to try and hide the look. Which didn't really do the trick and made Draco colour even darker than before.

"You're looking in the wrong direction, Malfoy." Harry pointed out the window he's been looking through, then at the one Draco had been working at. "East. Not West."

Draco's mouth snapped shut with an audible click and grind of teeth as his face flamed in colour and he bent to pick up his books, straightened his robes and moved to the east side of the tower. He did not thank Harry, he considered the fact that he didn't call him names or tell him to leave the tower so he could work alone thanks enough.

Both boys resumed what they were doing, and while Draco worked silently, acutely aware of his company, he still didn't have any luck finding what he was looking for. And even though he was silent, his agitation did not go unnoticed.

"Slightly south."  
Harry muttered the words, making Draco jump a bit, casting one sideways look at the other boy before swinging his telescope in the direction he thought Harry meant.

"No, SOUTH." Harry said again, then moved over towards Draco, coming right to the telescope he was working at.

"I don't need your help." Draco said, but he said it even as he moved a bit to make room for the dark haired boy.

"Apparently you do." Harry said, pointing first outside, then moving the telescope to where his finger was. "Look first, not through the telescope, just out the window." He pointed again and Draco moved closer to him to look where he was pointing.

"Why?" He asked, but it wasn't derisive or combative, it was a genuine question. "I don't see anything."

"Right there. Look hard." Harry said, then moved behind the smaller boy, reaching up to turn his head a bit. "There is ONE star there, but it's small. It's harder to find through the telescope first, looking just like this will help you find it with the telescope."

Draco was annoyed, both at having to have Harry explain something to him, and being touched by him as well. But as he looked where Harry was directing he saw he was right, there was a very tiny but present pinprick of light in the area of sky he'd been searching in vain.

"Thank you." He said quietly, turning his head out of Harry's grasp, trying to make it clear that he was done with him now.

"That sounded like it hurt." Harry said, dropping his hands but staying standing where he was.

"What?"

"Saying thank you to me. It sounded like it hurt."

Draco didn't look over at the other boy, but he could hear the smile in his voice. He wanted to be angry, but it was, he had to admit, actually kind of funny. "Kind of did."

Harry chuckled. Very softly but he chuckled all the same, and it made Draco smile even though he desperately wanted not to.

"Well. You're welcome." Harry said, touching his glasses as Draco looked up at him with a fairly direct gaze. "What?"

"Why did you help me?" Draco asked, his eyes slightly narrowed, immediately trying to read Harry's motive in this situation. "You could have just let me give up and fail the assignment."

"I wanted to finish sometime tonight and you weren't going to run out of steam quickly. Too distracting to work." Harry said, then smiled and tilted his head a bit. "And because Hermione told me what to do before I came up here so I didn't feel like it was fair that I knew the trick and you didn't."

"Ah." Draco said, and rolled his eyes as he looked away.

"What??" Harry asked, his brow creasing in confusion. 

"Fairness. Harry Potter ALWAYS has to play fair." Draco smirked in a slightly more in character sort of way his head tilting down a bit. "Can't ever have a leg up on someone else or you can't sleep at night."

Surprisingly, Harry laughed at that, and once again Draco couldn't help but smile with him. "Well it's true."

"I know it is." Harry said, laughing a little more. "It's ridiculous."

"You can't ever have something just for yourself. Are you REALLY like that or is just an act?" Draco asked, his expression more curious and open than it ever was when faced with Harry Potter.

"I suppose there's never been anything worth having just for myself." Harry said with a small shrug, absently picking up Draco's quill to fiddle with.

"Not even a leg up in the Goblet of Fire? You didn't have to tell Cedric about the dragons."

"How did you know about that??" Harry asked, looking at the other boy in surprise.

Draco shrugged, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I know about all kinds of things that I shouldn't. Not that this in particular is that impressive."

"Surprising, though. And you're right I didn't. But I was feeling so shit about the whole Goblet of Fire, two champions from Hogwarts situation that I didn't like knowing something Cedric didn't."

"You felt bad about that? About being chosen as a Champion?" Draco asked in surprise, moving to sit on the edge of the window they'd been looking out.

"Yeah of course. I didn't want that. Not just because it overlapped Cedric being Champion but because I didn't WANT to do all the trials. Regardless of what you or any of your friends think, I don't really like risking life and limb all the time. I'd much rather just live a normal average life."

Draco stayed silent as Harry spoke, and after he was finished, wrestling with this new knowledge that was clearly the truth. He'd always thought Harry liked the attention and the spotlight, but now he wondered if perhaps it had just been said to him so many times by other people that it took over his own opinion. Or lack there of. "I didn't know that."

"You never asked."

"We haven't exactly been on terms where asking a question like that would be appropriate and not weird."

"True." Harry smiled a bit, his eyes travelling over Draco's face and down to his shoulders, taking a step towards where he was sitting just a short distance away. "Can I ask you something?"

Draco raised his shoulders in a shrug that was much more nonchalant than he felt. "I suppose."

"Why do you smell sweet?"

"WHAT?" Draco immediately turned his head to sniff against his own shoulder, his cheeks going pink. "What are you talking about?"

"You smell sweet. Like candy or cookies or something."

"Oh..." Draco realized then what Harry was talking about and he chuckled a bit, embarrassed. "You went into the Prefect's bathroom once, right?" When Harry nodded he continued, feeling a little silly. "There's too many faucets, I counted wrong and.." He shrugged again rather helplessly, smiling when Harry laughed.

"I smelled like lavender for days. Ron said it was like being friends with a little old lady's purse."

Draco laughed at that, running a hand through his hair to push it back. "Is it really bad?"

Harry shook his head, stepping closer again and leaning in to inhale close to Draco's hair, one hand resting on the smaller boy's thigh for balance without thinking of it. "No it's quite nice, actually..."

Draco said nothing, sitting perfectly still as Harry moved so close to him, the hand resting on his thigh seeming to seep heat into his skin over his clothes. He just looked at Harry, their faces only a few inches apart at this point.

"Sorry." Harry said, his head pulling back only a fraction, his hand staying on Draco's leg. 

Both of them stayed motionless, nothing about this situation making any sense to either of them, especially not with their minds whirling and senses pricking in a way that seemed simultaneously perfectly natural and completely absurd.

"It's fine." Draco said quietly after what seemed like an hour of silence stretched between them.

"Is it?" Harry asked, his head leaning in again, so close to the other boy that he could feel his breath soft against his face.

"I think it is, actually..."

Harry leaned in, closing the gap between them and Draco made a soft noise as their lips pressed together, gently at first, then after a few moments far harder. And then harder still. Draco's hands slid into Harry's hair as the taller boy moved between his knees and his surprisingly strong arms slid around his back to keep from knocking him out of the window. They kissed hard, almost fighting each other as they did it, mouths opening and tongues sliding and curling, teeth nipping and biting as heat ramped between them.  
Draco's hands curled in the thick black strands of Harry's hair, one leg instinctively curling around his hips as Harry's hands slid over his back, feeling him out and making him shiver hard, his skin prickling to the point of aching as everything in him seemed to come alive.

Then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. They broke apart with a gasp, Draco's hands flying to the edges of the window to catch himself so he wouldn't fall when Harry stepped back.

They just looked at each other, both breathing hard, both with swollen red lips and flushed faces.

And then Draco grabbed his books and ran. He didn't know WHAT that was, he didn't know how that had happened. What spell Harry had put on him, what trickery was behind it. He was half convinced by the time he got to the Dungeons, out of breath and dizzy, that somehow that had been a test of Voldemort's that he'd failed spectacularly.

He turned, thumping his back against the stone wall, sliding down it to sit on the floor, resting his head on his knees as he tried to get his breath back. If it was a test, he had definitely failed.

If it was a chance to mock him later, then Harry certainly had it.

But there was still one small part of him that did wonder if it was just something that happened. No test, no ulterior motive, it just HAPPENED. And if that was what it was... Would it happen again?


	2. Forest (Heated Rivalry Chapter 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Again something that was supposed to be a one shot and it's becoming more. ;)
> 
> Chapter Summary - It is absolutely, without a doubt, without even a TRACE of question, Harry's fault that they were doing detention together. Alone. In the Forbidden Forest. There had to be rules against this sort of thing. It was CALLED the 'Forbidden Forest' for Merlin's sake! Now he was alone with Harry again. And he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the Observation Tower a week before. Stupid, stupid, stupid.....
> 
> \-------
> 
> \--Along with Inktober, it is Fictober! Following a prompt list from Tumblr I'm going to write short fics based around those prompts. A friend doing the same is titling each fic with the prompt so I'm totally copying that. ;)
> 
> \--------

"This is your fault." 

Harry spoke the words angrily to Draco who scowled at him as they walked across the grounds towards the forest. It absolutely was NOT his fault. He hadn't asked Harry to fire a jinx at him from across the room. He didn't suggest the other boy aim wildly and instead of hitting him, hit the pile of Malevolent Bloom on Professor Slughorn's desk. If HE had been the one jinxing Harry, he wouldn't have missed. Wouldn't have hit the flowers that Slughorn himself had gathered just for class. He would have hit HIM and then they wouldn't be out in the night to gather more of the blasted plant as detention.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Draco responded icily, keeping his hands in his coat pockets. It was really damn cold out.

"If you'd just kept your big mouth shut."

"Your temper and quickness to draw your wand on a classmate is what I think is the problem here."

"Oh shut up, Malfoy." Harry growled, walking faster and making it harder for the smaller blonde to keep up.

Draco couldn't help but be a little self satisfied with that reaction. He'd hit the right nerve there. And more than that he'd managed to take Harry down a few pegs in Potions class with this. Harry had no right to be petted on by Slughorn anyways. 

They walked in silence towards the woods and Draco paused at the edge while Harry walked right into them. The taller boy stopped after a few meters when he realized he was alone before he turned back to look at Draco. "I'm not doing this alone, this is your fault."

Draco still hesitated. He'd only been in the Forest once before and that was years ago. He didn't have particularly fond memories of it and he knew that even those not fond memories were quite light compared to what else was in there.

"Not all of us have flaunted the rules so much that we're quite well acquainted with the nasty things in there." Draco spat the words out at Harry and his confidence raised a tiny bit at the murderous look on Harry's face. 

He stepped past the treeline and walked to where Harry was, then past him in a massive display of false courage. "Where is the bloody plant we're supposed to get anyways. And how are we supposed to find it in the dark?"

"We couldn't find it in the day light anyways. If you'd been paying any attention in class you would have realized that it only flowers at night."

"Some of us have other things on our minds than being top in potions class." Draco said haughtily, pushing through a thicket of waist high bushes, trying not to react to every single noise he could hear in the woods around him.

"Not so easy when Snape isn't teaching it, huh?" Harry said with a sneer so well executed that would have made Draco jealous if he hadn't done it at his back.

"Snape had nothing to do with it."

"Snape had EVERYTHING to do with it!"

Harry practically shouted the words and Draco lunged at him, scrabbling to clamp a hand over the taller boy's mouth. 

"Would you shut up!" He hissed, looking around and trying to control his breathing so he could listen. "You have to be the dumbest clod in the world. I don't give a rat's ass what you and your friends can do in here but do NOT call attention to us in this forest. Not while I'm with you."

He gave Harry a shove as he pulled back from him and turned to keep walking, seething with anger at the other boy. "Stupid, stupid, stupid.." He muttered to himself. Continuing to walk without caring if Harry was behind him or not. Partly because he was angry with him and partly because he was angry that he could still feel the press of Harry's lips against his palm where his hand had been over his mouth.

And that made him think of what happened in the Observation Tower just a week ago. 

And he was pointedly NOT thinking about that. He absolutely was not. Whatever had happened wasn't even his doing, it had been all stupid Harry. 

After about five minutes he stopped, turning to look behind him for Harry but realized he wasn't there, not even at a distance. He looked around, turning in a slow circle in the dark woods, realizing that he was quite alone. Harry hadn't followed him, he couldn't even hear him.

"_Lumos_" He whispered, flicking his wand, even though he hadn't wanted to make light in the woods and attract more attention to himself. He looked further with his wand lit, trying to see the other boy, trying to find any trace of him.

"Potter?" He said, his hand starting to shake a bit as he looked around and around, turning on the spot where he was, not wanting to move an inch.

"This isn't funny!" He said a bit louder, swallowing roughly as his mouth went dry. "Come on Harry! Where are you??" 

Panic was rising in him now properly. He could retrace his steps, he was pretty sure he knew which way he'd come, but what if something was tracking him by them? What if something was already following right to where he was??

His breathing came short and hard as he looked around wildly, twisting when he heard a twig snap, his heart rising to his throat as he heard a soft muttered noise behind Him and he turned again to try and see what it was.

All at once he screamed when something grabbed him from behind and he twisted around, flailing at whatever it was, his wand dropping down onto the ground. His attacker was laughing at him, sick and twisted thing it was! Laughing and it was going to cart him off into the woods, it was going to eat him or kill him or it was... It was...

It was Harry.

"You ASSHOLE!' Draco screamed at the other boy when he realized who it was. He smacked both hands on Harry's chest, roughly pushing him backwards.

"Don't shout, Draco, you might attract attention to yourself." Harry said with a smirk, folding his arms across his chest. But he frowned after a few moments as he watched the smaller boy. "You're really scared."

"Ten points to Gryffindor for stating the absolute obvious." Draco said, his voice coming out sharp and hurt and it made him madder to hear it. He pushed his hair out of his eyes to glare at Harry. "You were GONE, I thought I was alone and then you GRABBED me? In the fucking Forbidden Forest! Who wouldn't be scared by that!?"

"Sorry." Harry said, dropping his arms down so they weren't folded on his chest anymore. "I didn't think you were actually REALLY afraid to be in here."

"Most sane people would be." Draco huffed out a breath, embarrassed and looking down at his feet.

Harry closed the small distance between them, resting a hand on his shoulder and bending so he could tip his head and see into Draco's downturned face. "Nothing's going to hurt you in here so long as you leave it alone. And stay away from the Acromantulas." 

Draco's eyes went a little wide as he raised his head and Harry straightened up. He took an unconscious step closer to the other boy. "Acromantulas?" He said quietly, his eyes moving around the dark woods, only a small circle of it still lit by his wand lying on the ground.

"Yeah... They're a bit nasty. But they're a lot deeper in. We don't have to go that far." Harry pet a hand against the back of Draco's shoulder, honestly feeling bad for scaring him so thoroughly.

A branch snapped somewhere not far away and fell to the forest floor in a shiver of dried leaves, Draco pushed forward into Harry as the noise grated on his already agitated nerves, one hand curling in the front of his coat. "Slughorn shouldn't even have sent us in here."

He said the words and looked up the short ways to Harry's face, and then a moment later he couldn't see Harry anymore. His eyes had closed and again they were kissing.  
Stupid, stupid, STUPID! He said again, but in his head as he pressed up into Harry, kissing him back hard and deep. The voice calling him stupid was being very thoroughly ignored. He couldn't have listened to it if he'd tried. Not now, not while Harry's lips were pressed against his own.

This was NOT happening again.

But it was. And it was even better than the first time. 

Harry's arms curled around him, pulling him in and Draco circled his around Harry's shoulders, Pressing into him heavily as he kissed him, licking deep into his mouth, pulling at him to try and get closer.

Then he was walking backwards, Harry was pushing him and forced a low noise out of his throat has he felt his back collide with a wide tree trunk. Harry pressed against him properly, the dark haired boy's hands sliding down his sides, pulling his hips forward.

A rush of heat flooded him as his hips jutted forward and he could feel Harry's pressed into him. Feel HIM pressed against him, that hard flesh that matched his own grinding into him, sending tingles through his limbs as he ground back.  
He bit at Harry's lower lip and was rewarded with a groan and a particularly hard grind against him, forcing out a moan and a gasp of his own, his head jerking back and thumping against the tree, their lips breaking with a slick heated noise.  
Harry kept arching into him, kept grinding forward and he matched every shift and press of hips, his breath short and quick. 

"Don't... stop..." He gasped out, long since past caring about appearances or pride or looking in control, not when Harry could do this to him. Nothing else mattered right then, just the way he felt, the way Harry felt.

"Not planning on it.." 

Harry grated the words out, and the strain in his voice, the thickness there that Draco could hear that confirmed he was just as far gone as he was, that had to be the hottest thing he'd ever heard. Ever. 

It only took a couple of minutes, he wasn't exactly experienced, and he could tell that there was nothing stopping him, not now. His hands tightened against Harry's back, then one slid into his hair, fisting in the dark strands as he felt the pull right from the soles of his feet. The rush of heat that claimed him, his hips pressing forward hard as he cried out, throbbed sticky and hot against his own skin.

Then he felt Harry, heard the grated groan, felt the twitch of him against his own sensitive flesh.  
God that was good...

He breathed heavily, his mind spinning almost frantically. Trying to make sense of something that made no sense at all.

He didn't run this time. He couldn't have done it very well anyways if he'd wanted to. Harry still had him pinned against the tree, not to mention he well and truly had no bearings in the forest anymore. No idea where to run to if he'd wanted to get away.

Again, that was twice he'd thought that. 'IF he'd wanted to get away'. And he didn't.

Harry leaned in a bit, his breath releasing in a warm rush against the side of Draco's cheek. "This is nuts." He said quietly.

Draco couldn't help but smirk, one soft noise of laughter coming from his nose. "No kidding."

"Good though..."

"Very good... But we can't keep doing this." Draco said shortly. His mind was clicking along properly now, and even with his whole body still tingling with heat, he knew this was absolutely ridiculous.

"I know." Harry said, just as shortly, pulling back and releasing Draco from where he had him against the tree. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Not a bit. It's just odd circumstance." Draco tugged his coat down again, trying to ignore how uncomfortable his pants now were. He moved to retrieve his wand. "We better just find the blasted plants..."

Harry nodded, his shoulders squaring a bit in a gesture Draco had to admit he rather liked. The other boy had gotten so broad in the past year and..

Stop. Stop it. Done. He reprimanded himself mentally, smoothing both hands through his hair to settle the pale strands before he started walking again.

This time he did look over his shoulder to make sure Harry was walking with him. He didn't think he could handle any more surprises that night.


	3. Reptile (Heated Rivalry Chapter 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fate has some sort of sick sense of humour. Or at least it certainly seems that way when Draco walks into the Prefects bathroom late at night and finds none other than Harry Potter already in the massive tub. What sort of cruel cosmic joke IS this??
> 
> \-------
> 
> \--Along with Inktober, it is Fictober! Following a prompt list from Tumblr I'm going to write short fics based around those prompts. A friend doing the same is titling each fic with the prompt so I'm totally copying that. ;)
> 
> \--------

"What the fuck are YOU doing here?"

Draco spit the words out as he walked into the Prefects bathroom and found Harry in the massive swimming pool of a tub. He forgot in that moment that he was completely naked as he glared at the dark haired boy.

"I should ask YOU that. You aren't even a Prefect anymore, but still think you have a right to be in here?"

"Fuck off, Potter." Draco grumbled, knowing that he really didn't have any true reason or privilege to be in there, but not wanting to admit it. Especially not to Harry.

"Finally finish detention?" Harry asked with what looked on the surface to be a benign smile, but the self satisfaction was visible in the edges behind it.

"Fuck OFF, Potter! You're the one who should have gotten detention, not me."

_"Your temper and quickness to draw your wand on a classmate is what I think is the problem here."_ Harry drawled at him, parroting back to Draco what Draco had said to him when they had detention together in the forest.

Draco turned so red he could feel it burn in his cheeks and his ears, absolutely fuming mad. He wanted to turn around and leave but then Harry would well and truly win. And after the dark haired boy had gotten him detention, no part of Draco wanted to give him any more victories.

"You called me a reptile." He grouched at Harry, stepping forward to the edge of the bath, now quite aware that he was naked and had been giving Harry a full view of it since he walked in. All he could do now was pretend he didn't care, slipping into the water and moving as far away from Harry as he could get. 

"You are a reptile by virtue of being Slytherin."

"Oh I see. Slytherin bias coming out in you. You just think we're all disgusting hideous--"

"Snakes." Harry said with a smirk, cutting Draco off and raising both eyebrows at him. "Snakes are reptiles, Malfoy. All I did was call you a snake. Which you are. Because you're in Slytherin."

Fuck. Fuck fuck FUCK. Draco clenched his jaw tight enough to make his teeth ache, realizing that Harry had totally and completely played him. Even if he'd really meant the snake comment as an insult, all he'd really done was say he was a Slytherin. And Draco had absolutely exploded at him and earned himself a nasty detention that had lasted well into the night.

"Cat got your tongue?" Harry asked rather lazily, shifting under water on the ledge that ran around the inside edge of the tub to sit on, watching Draco as he processed everything that had just been given to him.

"I hate you." Draco muttered, leaning his back against the wall of the tub, seriously considering sliding down under the water and just staying there forever.

"Feeling is mutual." 

Somehow hearing Harry say that made Draco even madder. He irrationally wanted to be the one who hated the MOST. Like somehow that justified everything.

Both boys sat in silence in the water, long enough for Draco's anger to ebb away a bit, the sting of it leaving him slowly, washing away into the water and leaving his mind more room to focus on other things.

Like the water.

"This bath smells.. odd." Draco said, opting to focus on the scent of the water being odd rather than the fact that he was in it with Harry Potter.

"It doesn't smell odd, it smells good." Harry said with a slight frown, lowering his head to sniff close to the surface. 

"You accuse me of smelling sweet, this water smells like a vanilla explosion." Draco said, then raised his eyebrows slightly when he saw Harry go a little pink. "Ohhh... You can't possibly..."

"Shut up, Malfoy." Harry muttered, sloshing the water a bit.

"You were actually trying to find the taps I used, weren't you. You liked it THAT much?" 

Draco had him now, his confidence building as he watched the dark haired boy shift in discomfort. His own chin raised slightly, getting to his feet in the chest deep water, moving slowly closer to Harry. "You didn't get it quite right."

"I said shut UP, Malfoy! Get away from me." Harry shifted a few inches further away, hardly moving at all, all things considered, as Draco moved right in front of him. 

"I don't really know which ones I used but it wasn't quite this... My towels still smell of it, did you want one?"

"Fuck OFF!" Harry got to his feet, giving Draco a shove, which didn't do much with the water resistance around them. "Just shut your mouth."

Draco shook his head slowly, smirking at the other boy. Moving closer to him even as Harry tried to shove him again. "Why'd you want to replicate it?"

"I didn't." Harry said, but his eyes swung to the left, not meeting Draco's.

"Liar. Tell me why and I'll leave you alone. I'll even leave the bathroom entirely if that's what you want."

Draco tilted his head a bit as he looked at the other boy, his hair damp and slicked back from his face, water droplets clinging to his neck and the top of his chest.

_Don't start... Merlin, don't start this again..._

"It was pretty." Harry eventually said still not looking at the other boy.

"Pretty??" Draco echoed to him, leaning in a bit. "It was horrible."

"No it wasn't, actually. It was not what I expected you to smell like, but it wasn't awful. Happy now?"

"Eh..." Draco made the noise and raised one shoulder in indecision. 

"I told you what you wanted to know!"

"You did but.. I don't know. I don't think it was good enough to make me leave."

Harry rolled his eyes, then paused, and the look on his face suddenly made Draco thinking he would actually like to leave. Right this second, yes please.

"You don't actually want to leave." Harry said, one side of his mouth quirking up.

"I didn't say that. I said that your answer wasn't good incentive to leave."

"You actually would rather stand here in the water with me. Naked."

Draco grimaced. If Harry had just not included that last word. He had been too caught up in his self satisfied probing of the dark haired boy to think too much about the fact that they were naked. But Harry mentioning it made him PAINFULLY aware of the fact. And the fact that he had been standing on very full display of the other boy before he got into the water.

"You're bigger than I thought." 

Draco looked up at Harry in slight confusion for a few moments. Harry didn't have to see him naked to know how tall he... Oh.

OH.

Oh MERLIN.

"Shut UP!" Draco sloshed water at Harry who laughed at him. He could feel his face burning again, this was so rude.

"It's a compliment!" Harry protested, smoothing his hair back and wiping water from his face. "Unless that's all you've got. You know.. shower, rather than a grower. Which are you?"

"I am not having this conversation with you. It's foul." Draco turned, heading towards the edge of the bath, but he stopped there, realizing that he'd have to get out again. Have Harry see him again. And maddeningly and ridiculously, there was more to see right that moment.

How Harry making him angry, talking about his.. personal areas... and low key trying to gain more information about them would cause such a reaction was beyond him. But he couldn't get out of the bath now.

"What's wrong, Malfoy?" 

The words came quietly, and from much closer behind him than Draco expected. He turned his head a bit, just enough to glance over his shoulder and saw Harry just a mere couple of steps behind him.

"Nothing. I just don't feel like I should be the one to leave." He tried to affect his self satisfied drawl rather than the defensive reflex he was really feeling in the words.

"Or you can't leave..."

Draco felt the heat of Harry's body behind him and realized the other boy was looking over his shoulder and down through the water which wasn't completely clear, but was clear enough to show exactly how Draco was feeling right then.

"Stop it." Draco said, covering himself with his hands, turning around to glare at the other boy. "Why do you want to look so bad, huh?"

"Same reason I bet you're trying with every bit of personal strength you have NOT to look down at me right now." Harry said, one side of his mouth curving up again.

Fuck. Fuck Potter. Fuck his smarmy smile and his asshole personality. Fuck him for being RIGHT, as well.

"Like I'd want to look." He managed to spit out, keeping his eyes level with Harry's shoulder.

"_Don't stop_..." Harry said quietly, taking a step closer to Draco. "You said that to me, if you've forgotten. When I had you pinned against a tree."

"I remember." Draco said, trying to keep his voice neutral but he swallowed roughly, the very vivid memory surfacing in his mind again, his own flesh hidden under his hands twitching slightly at the recollection.

"I think we both know what we want now." Harry took another step closer as he spoke.

"I said we can't keep doing this. You said it was nuts. Those were ALSO things that got said." Draco muttered, but his eyes moved from the other boy's shoulder to his face. Harry was so close to him now, their bare skin only inches apart.

"Just because something is 'nuts' doesn't mean it can't happen. Did you mean it when you said we couldn't keep doing it?"

Harry's hand reached forward that small ways between them, his fingers slid against Draco's ribs under the water. Draco felt his eyes close, a small breath shuddering from his lips as he shook his head. "I should mean it."

"And I shouldn't be trying to talk you out of meaning it. We can't stand each other. We'd happily kill each other." Harry said, his hand sliding around onto Draco's back, pulling him forward and against him. "And yet..."

Draco moaned, he couldn't help it. The feeling of Harry's bare skin, slippery under water and hot as fire above it as he pressed into him was too much not to react to.

Harry pushed the smaller boy back, walking him backwards through the water to the very farthest corner of the tub. His hands slid down Draco's back and over his ass to the backs of his thighs, pulling them upwards and on either side of his hips as he kneeled on the ledge under water, keeping Draco astride him.

"Say no right now and I'll stop." Harry said, looking Draco square in the eyes. His hands were stilled between them, waiting for Draco to respond.

Draco didn't answer verbally, but he did reach up and pull Harry's head in, determined this time to kiss him first and not get caught off guard like the last two times. Harry groaned as their mouths crushed together, their kisses hard and deep. They had kissed like this before, somewhere caught between fighting each other and wanting so much that it was practically violent.

He moved one hand between them and Draco's breathing hitched painfully in his chest as he felt Harry's hand curl around his hard flesh. Then he moaned a moment later as he felt his length pressed against Harry's, pinned together by both of the other boy's hands that immediately started stroking them. It sent ripples of heat through him that made his toes curl. Made both hands fist hard into Harry's dark hair, pulling at it as he licked into the other boy's mouth.

Draco moaned, his hips pressing towards the slide of Harry's hands. He loved the feel of it, loved that he could feel the other boy twitch, feel the catch in his breath, feel so much more of him than he could when they were bundled against the cold in the woods. He was lost in the heat between them, the pull from deep inside of him that made his hips flex harder, that made Harry groan when he did it, made the dark haired boy's hands move faster.

He broke from Harry's lips when it was impossible to breath in small breaths around his mouth, needing to gasp and draw in deeper panting breaths. He rested forehead to forehead with the other boy, looking straight into his dark eyes as his hips lurched and everything in him pulled. He moaned a long guttural noise, his legs squeezing around Harry, his hands pulling in his hair as his hard length throbbed and he came hard and fast, pulling from so deep it was almost painful. It was only a moment between him and when Harry tipped and he groaned a completely different and far more primal noise as he felt Harry's length flex against him in his release just as long and hot as his own had been. His skin felt like fire and Harry's felt like it was scorching him where they touched.

They stayed where they were, grasping tight to each other, looking at nothing but each other's eyes. Both seeming to dare each other to look away in the heat of this very intimate moment. But neither of them did.

"This has to stop." Draco said the second he knew he could speak without his voice shaking.

"You said that before and clearly didn't mean it."

In spite of himself, Draco smirked a little bit. "I don't have to mean it to say it. And know that it is something that should be stopped."

"Big fancy way of saying you don't WANT it to stop." Harry smirked back at the blonde, still holding tightly to him.

"Oh shut up, Potter."

"Make me."

Harry let out a noise of surprise as Draco leaned in and kissed him again, bruising and hard. His teeth caught Harry's lower lip, biting into it roughly and giving it a tug before he let it go with a slick noise. "I can shut you up if I need to do so."

"Clearly. But this won't stop now."

"Why do you think you can make that decision?"

"I'm not. But we've done this three times now."

"So?" Draco relaxed his hands in Harry's hair, letting them drop down but he kept his arms comfortably around the other boy's shoulders.

"Once is an accident." Harry said, tilting his head enough to catch the edges of his now sore lips against Draco's that were red and puffy and looked rather enticing. "Twice is coincidence. It's that third time that's a problem..."

"What's a third time?" Draco asked, sliding one leg a bit to get it further around the other boy.

"Third time makes it habit."


	4. Pyjamas ("Heated Rivalry" Chapter 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If there is one thing that can be said about Harry and Draco, it's that their rivalry is nothing short of explosive. And sometimes rivalry like that can turn into something more. They don't have to like each other to be drawn to each other...
> 
> Again something that was supposed to be a one shot and it's becoming more. ;)
> 
> Chapter Summary - Potter is sending him owls. Potter is sending him incredibly RUDE owls. But he's also inviting him out, just to talk... And that doesn't sound so bad, actually.
> 
> \-------
> 
> \--Along with Inktober, it is Fictober! Following a prompt list from Tumblr I'm going to write short fics based around those prompts. A friend doing the same is titling each fic with the prompt so I'm totally copying that. ;)
> 
> \--------

_What are you wearing?_

_-H_

\---

_ Fuck off, Potter. _

_\---_

_Tell me what you're wearing and I will._

_\---_

_Pyjamas. Now fuck off._

_\---  
Can I see them?_

_\---_

_Only if you could see through all the walls and down into the dungeons magically._

_\---_

_Is that an invitation to try?_

_\---_

_No. Go away, I want to go to sleep._

_\---_

_It's too early to sleep. Want to meet somewhere?_

_\---_

_No._

_\---_

_Yes you do._

_\---_

_No, I don't._

_\---_

_Let's be frank. You can get yourself off tonight, same old same old. Or I can do it for you._

_\---_

_What the HELL, Potter!? _

_\---_

_Interested?_

_\---_

_No._

_\---_

_How about just to talk then?_

_\---_

_Talk to you?_

_\---_

_Yeah. We could go up to the Observation Tower. Nice view, we can talk. Interested?_

_\---_

_...I'll go up there shortly._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draco shivered slightly, thinking he should have gotten redressed, not just pulled a cloak over his pyjamas, sitting down on the ledge of the window he'd sat in the last time he was up here.

Two weeks ago. It seemed like a hell of a lot longer, but it had been two weeks since he'd been up here to do his homework and Harry had been here and they'd ended up.. well...

He gave his head a shake to try and clear the memory, then turned to look when he heard footsteps. Part of him was expecting someone else entirely. Harry finally having played him properly, he'd send someone else to laugh at him rather than show up himself.

Or maybe it was a Death Eater and his worry that this whole thing had somehow been a set up to test him would actually come true.

Never mind that Harry would have had to be in league with Voldemort to actually make this test.

Or imperius'd. Maybe he'd been Imperius'd.

"Hey.."

Harry smiled as he came through the archway and into the tower, looking around a bit before he moved to where Draco was, leaning his back against the wall and sliding down to sit on the floor. 

"You don't wear green pyjamas?"

Draco scowled, yanking his leg away when Harry tugged the pyjama cuff on Draco's closest leg. He scowled harder when the dark haired boy laughed.

"Relax, Malfoy. Just making conversation."

"I don't wear green pyjamas. I don't own green anything aside from uniform stuff." Draco said, having to admit he felt sort of bad for that reflex reaction. And also for thinking Harry wasn't coming.

He still could be imperius'd though.

"Really? I have more red and gold clothing options than I care to admit. Although, to be fair, most of them came from Mrs Weasley. If she didn't knit me things I'd likely have the same array as you."

"All those sweaters came from Weasley's mother? I thought you bought those or something."

Harry shook his head, smiling up at Draco. "Nah. I don't really buy much in terms of clothing. I wear whatever I have until Mrs Weasley starts commenting on how bad everything fits me, then I get new things. All the Gryffindor stuff and Quidditch themed stuff she's made though. Your mom doesn't make you anything?"

"No... Not really her thing, making stuff. We have help to cook and clean and she just buys whatever else is wanted or needed." Draco scuffed one foot against the ground, shifting slightly on the windowsill. 

"There's nothing wrong with that." Harry said, frowning slightly. "From what I know about my mom, I don't think she would have been the knitting me sweaters and mittens type either."

"Yeah?" Draco asked, looking down at Harry. He smiled when the dark haired boy nodded. "Well.. My mother is a good mother, just not the kind to make things."

"I wouldn't have thought that would matter to you."

"Well..." Draco shifted, sliding out of the windowsill and down onto the floor with the other boy. "I don't, not really. But Weasley's mom just seems so...."

"Motherly?" 

Harry supplied the word when Draco floundered a bit and smiled when the blonde boy nodded. 

"Yeah. And there's something nice about that, I guess. I think it's pretty obvious that my family is on the stiff and starched and proper side."

"Little obvious, yeah. Just a bit."

"Shut up, Potter." Draco smiled as he said it though, nudging the other boy with his elbow.

"I'm just agreeing with you!"

Harry nudged Draco back and the blonde smiled a little more. "I don't think you should judge any family against any other." He said, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"Are your Aunt and Uncle really terrible?" Draco asked, stretching his legs out as well, comparing how much difference there was between his and Harry's together.

"Oh and then some. How'd you know that?"

"Everyone talks, things filter around. The poor care of The Boy Who Lived is definitely something that makes it from ear to ear."

"Ugh. I haven't heard that name in years, I haven't missed it." Harry said, resting his head back against the wall. "And I went a whole eleven years without ever having heard it in the first place."

"It's mad that you had no idea who you were before that. I've always thought it was mad. I can't imagine it. Everyone in the Wizarding World knew you'd be getting to Hogwarts and everything even if no one was really sure where you were being raised. Just 'with family'. Then when the time comes and you're here and everything, everyone found out that you didn't have a fucking CLUE who you were and what you meant to the world."

"Crash course in life." Harry said, turning his head so he could see Draco, smirking a bit. "Harry, you're a wizard. Oh and you're the sole reason the Wizarding World exists as it does today instead of being ruled by a really nasty super villain. Oh and he's dead, don't worry. But wait! You say he isn't dead? You must be lying. Lets spend a year trash talking you. Oh wait, we're wrong and you're right. He is still alive. Well shit, sorry mate. You better take care of that for us. You're the only one who can, we're pretty sure."

Draco was chuckling by the time Harry paused in his rambling, nudging the other boy again. "Not too bitter, are you."

"Oh no. Not at all." The dark haired boy smiled a little more genuinely. "You know what's really mad?"

"What?"

"I'm sitting here talking to you about all of this. Ignoring the fact that I know what side you and your family are on, the same way I'm sure you're ignoring the fact that I'm on an opposing side."

Draco stayed quiet for a few moments, then let out a long low sigh. If this was a test from Voldemort, he was absolutely going to fail right this second. "I don't really know what side I'm on." Draco said, shifting a little uncomfortably. Half of him screamed at him to shut up, while the other half was so happy he had said it out loud.

"Really?" Harry was looking at him like he wasn't sure he believed him. "Since when?"

"Since always, really." Draco admitted, pulling his knees to his chest and circling his arms around them. "I fell into line with my parents because that's what you do. I didn't question much, we didn't really have to. Voldemort was GONE, I figured even if I wasn't sure how I felt about what he stood for, it was really a moot point. I could say what made my family happy and that was the end of it."

"But then he did come back..."

"Yeah. He did." Draco shifted, leaning a bit to rest his chin on the top of his knees. "And it's been full on. Just.. full on. My family is out of favour with him to start with. My immediate family, anyways. With my father in... Azkaban..."

Both boys fell silent then, but after a couple of moment's Draco felt a warm hand rest down on the back of his neck. He looked up curiously to Harry's face.

"No secret I can't stand your father." Harry said, gently squeezing his hand against the back of Draco's neck. "But I'm sorry you have to live through him being in Azkaban. The Dementors don't exactly spare anyone, it must be awful to have to think of him there."

Draco nodded without saying anything. He wasn't all that fond of his father as a person, not anymore. He sure used to be, used to idolize him, used to be so proud to be his child. But in the past few years that sort of... It wasn't like it was. But that didn't make it easier to live every day knowing where he was now.

They sat in silence for a long time, both lost in their own thoughts, but comfortable. That was the oddest part, Draco thought. He was perfectly comfortable sitting here with Harry. Perfectly comfortable talking to him. Maybe still slightly embarrassed by what they'd been doing together aside from this... But he knew there was a good chance he'd feel like that about anyone he'd been doing those things with. Not just Harry.

"Should get back." Harry eventually said, leaning over to kiss the side of Draco's head in a show of affection that somehow Draco found even more intimate than being in the Prefect's bathtub together.

"Yeah. But.. Thanks for inviting me out. And listening."

Harry smiled at the blonde, getting to his feet and stretching his arms over his head, the shirt he was wearing lifting enough to give the blonde and unintentional look at his stomach and hips. 

"Sure, Malfoy. Anytime. And I actually mean that.. Just drop me a line."

Draco nodded and waved when Harry turned to go, wishing he could be that nonchalant. That confident and easy with things. He didn't know what was going on in Harry's head, so he might be wrong. But to him it seemed like Harry just... decided things and that was that. He liked something or didn't like something and there was no agony over the choice.

With a sigh Draco got to his feet, brushing off his pyjama pants before he started making his way back down to the dungeons.

Maybe he'd send Harry an owl tomorrow. Ask him what HE was wearing...


End file.
